Aside from artificial intelligence and robotics, there is a third field that will start showing incredible promise in coming decades. We will begin to integrate computer systems into our brains. Computers will become more and more integrated to our brains until we eventually dispense with the old fashioned goo that is our biological brains and move forward at accelerating rates with our fully artificial brains. We will have, in essence, become the robots. This concept is called Mind Uploading.
Simply speaking, mind uploading is a science fiction concept of copying one's mind into an artificial body or computer. It is a popular term for a putative process by which the mind, including memories, personality, consciousness, etc of a specific individual is transferred from its original biological brain to another operating substrate.
Despite of the tremendous and miraculous achievements of we humans, being in the most of the scientific field and research area, mind uploading is still the scientific challenge for human race. This technology will radically alter society in many ways, as science fiction authors have begun to illustrate. With this rapid development in technology, the day might not be that far away when this science fiction turns into reality. Once it is possible to move a mind from one substrate to another, it is called Substrate Independent Mind (SIM). SIM is a field of research which seeks to understand the brain and the nervous system of a wide range of organisms including humans, in order to facilitate emulation of these organisms in an artificial substrate, for example, a computer professor.
In order for progress to be made in the field of SIM, advancements in many key technologies and research areas are required. Some of them are nanotechnology, biotechnology, brain imaging, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, computational hardware and architectures, cognitive psychology and philosophy.
The technology most commonly associated with mind uploading is Whole Brain Emulation (WBE), emulation as when one type of processor is emulated in software on top of another type of processor. Whole Brain Emulation can be equivalent to neural prosthesis of the whole brain. Neural Prosthesis (NPs) are assistive devices that restore functions lost as a result of neural damage. It can substitute a motor, sensory or cognitive modality that might have been damaged as a result of an injury or a disease.
The terms "whole brain emulation", "mind uploading" and "substrate independent minds" have been used informally in recent years to describe a set of related ideas regarding hypothetical possibilities for transferring or emulating the functioning of a human's brain or "mind" on a synthetic substrate.
The recent breakout in the research was Synaptic Electronic Circuit that learn and forget like neural processes. Rui Yang, Kazuya Terabe and colleagues at the National Institute for materials Science (NIMS), and the International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA) in Japan and at the California NanoSystems Institute/UCLA have developed "nanoionic" (processes connected with fast ion transport in all-solid-state nanoscale systems) devices capable of a broad range of neuromorphic and electrical functions. Such a device would allow for fabrication of on-demand configurable circuits, along memories, and digital-neural fused networks in a single device architecture.
Synaptic devices that mimic the learning and memory processes in living organisms are attracting interest as an alternative to standard computing elements to help extend performance beyond current physical limits. However, artificial synaptic systems have been hampered by complex fabrication requirements and limitations in the learning and memory functions. The device is based on a platinum-tungsten trioxide (WO3-x) device using oxygen ions migrating in response to voltage sweeps. Accumulation of the oxygen ions at the electrode leads to Schottky-diode like potential and resulting changes in resistance and rectifying characteristics. The stable bipolar switching behavior at the platinum-tungsten trioxide based device is attributed to the formation of a conductive filament and oxygen absorbability of the platinum electrode, they mimic. The researchers noted that the device properties -- volatile and non-volatile states and current fading following positive voltage pulses are similar to neural behavior that is, short and long term memory and forgetting processes. The device was found to possess a wide range of time scales of memorization, resistance switching, and rectification varying from volatile to permanent in a single device.
This technology will radically alter society in many ways, as science fiction authors have begun to illustrate. With this rapid development in technology the day might not be that far away when this science fiction turns into reality. Once it is possible to move a mind from one substrate to another, it is called a Substrate Independent Mind. If such breakthrough occurs repeatedly in field of mind uploading then the day is not far that all the sci-fi like Avatar, Transcedence, etc come into reality. The pros and cons of this research will be however known after the real practice in near future.
Simply speaking, mind uploading is a science fiction concept of copying one's mind into an artificial body or computer. It is a popular term for a putative process by which the mind, including memories, personality, consciousness, etc of a specific individual is transferred from its original biological brain to another operating substrate.
Despite of the tremendous and miraculous achievements of we humans, being in the most of the scientific field and research area, mind uploading is still the scientific challenge for human race. This technology will radically alter society in many ways, as science fiction authors have begun to illustrate. With this rapid development in technology, the day might not be that far away when this science fiction turns into reality. Once it is possible to move a mind from one substrate to another, it is called Substrate Independent Mind (SIM). SIM is a field of research which seeks to understand the brain and the nervous system of a wide range of organisms including humans, in order to facilitate emulation of these organisms in an artificial substrate, for example, a computer professor.
In order for progress to be made in the field of SIM, advancements in many key technologies and research areas are required. Some of them are nanotechnology, biotechnology, brain imaging, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, computational hardware and architectures, cognitive psychology and philosophy.
The technology most commonly associated with mind uploading is Whole Brain Emulation (WBE), emulation as when one type of processor is emulated in software on top of another type of processor. Whole Brain Emulation can be equivalent to neural prosthesis of the whole brain. Neural Prosthesis (NPs) are assistive devices that restore functions lost as a result of neural damage. It can substitute a motor, sensory or cognitive modality that might have been damaged as a result of an injury or a disease.
The terms "whole brain emulation", "mind uploading" and "substrate independent minds" have been used informally in recent years to describe a set of related ideas regarding hypothetical possibilities for transferring or emulating the functioning of a human's brain or "mind" on a synthetic substrate.
The recent breakout in the research was Synaptic Electronic Circuit that learn and forget like neural processes. Rui Yang, Kazuya Terabe and colleagues at the National Institute for materials Science (NIMS), and the International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA) in Japan and at the California NanoSystems Institute/UCLA have developed "nanoionic" (processes connected with fast ion transport in all-solid-state nanoscale systems) devices capable of a broad range of neuromorphic and electrical functions. Such a device would allow for fabrication of on-demand configurable circuits, along memories, and digital-neural fused networks in a single device architecture.
Synaptic devices that mimic the learning and memory processes in living organisms are attracting interest as an alternative to standard computing elements to help extend performance beyond current physical limits. However, artificial synaptic systems have been hampered by complex fabrication requirements and limitations in the learning and memory functions. The device is based on a platinum-tungsten trioxide (WO3-x) device using oxygen ions migrating in response to voltage sweeps. Accumulation of the oxygen ions at the electrode leads to Schottky-diode like potential and resulting changes in resistance and rectifying characteristics. The stable bipolar switching behavior at the platinum-tungsten trioxide based device is attributed to the formation of a conductive filament and oxygen absorbability of the platinum electrode, they mimic. The researchers noted that the device properties -- volatile and non-volatile states and current fading following positive voltage pulses are similar to neural behavior that is, short and long term memory and forgetting processes. The device was found to possess a wide range of time scales of memorization, resistance switching, and rectification varying from volatile to permanent in a single device.
This technology will radically alter society in many ways, as science fiction authors have begun to illustrate. With this rapid development in technology the day might not be that far away when this science fiction turns into reality. Once it is possible to move a mind from one substrate to another, it is called a Substrate Independent Mind. If such breakthrough occurs repeatedly in field of mind uploading then the day is not far that all the sci-fi like Avatar, Transcedence, etc come into reality. The pros and cons of this research will be however known after the real practice in near future.
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